Qs about using/repairing my new ancient Universal Rochester Optical Standard 5x7
Hello! Apologies if this thread is in the wrong place. I just recently splurged on an ancient Universal Rochester 5x7. I think it is probably from 1891 or 1892, so you know a little bit older than me.
The camera's wood and metal are mostly in pretty good condition. One or two screws were exchanged, one is missing, but should be fixable. I am marginally unsure if the two standards are perfectly parallel, but there is probably not much I can do on that front. They seem not far off either way and the focus is surprisingly good. The spring back seems to be working well. The handle was fine...but it broke when I grabbed it. Oops.
The main problem is that the bellows have a fair few holes and are filthy too. I am going to patch up the bellows as best as I can using some bellows adhesive patch I bought from ebay before, but before I do that, I need to clean em.
Q1. Do you folk have any tips on how to clean such old bellows? Ideally of course I'd get them changed, but I legit cannot afford that right now (and does anyone in NA offer that service for old cameras like this?). I don't think I'd want to risk taking them off the camera. They would definitely tear especially with how clumsy I am (and I wouldn't know how to glue them back).
Q2: The camera came with some wooden plate holders, but with metal film inserts inside them. I assume this means you can use modern day film or paper no problem? The only problem is I can't figure out an easy way to load the insert. With the usual 4x5 holders, there is a flap at the bottom so you can just slide your film in. With the insert do I just try to do the same but without a flap to help?
Q3: When I put the holder behind the ground glass, there are no guidelines to help with positioning it dead center. I assume this is just the way the old cameras were. Do I just do my best to guess and align it. Maybe I can see the back of the holder through the ground glass and use that as a guide? Or is there some other trick to getting the full frame without crookedness?
Q4: Finally on the lens this camera came with. It came with a Darlot Paris lens, probably near ~200mm/8inch mounted on what I think is a Bausch & Lomb Iris Diaphragm Shutter. I can't tell what the maximum aperture of the lens is, but the aperture ring on the shutter goes down to 3. I imagine that an f/3 5x7 lens is probably too optimistic. Searching up Darlot I only see barrel lenses, so I guess it is uncommon to see it mounted on a lens. Do you all know anything about this lens? Thankfully the lens appears to be in excellent shape. The shutter kinda works, but the times are way off. I assume these shutters are simple to service, but do you know anyone that services them? (Also am I correct in assuming you can't use the iris in T mode? i.e. if you use T you shoot wide open?)
Here are some photos. https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...nW?usp=sharing
Final question: I am not going to fuss with the original seller or anything, but I don't know anything about the prices of these really old items. I paid roughly 500 usd for this camera, lens and some holders. In your eyes, and for my own reference, was that a reasonable price or did I get super scammed and should have paid far less?
Thanks so much for any responses!
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